Today in Campaign 2016

Donald Trump Photograph: Carlo Allegri/Reuters

Deep antipathy to Hillary Clinton exists within the FBI, multiple bureau sources told the Guardian, spurring a rapid series of leaks damaging to her campaign just days before the election. Current and former FBI officials described a chaotic internal climate that resulted from outrage over director James Comey’s July decision not to recommend an indictment over Clinton’s maintenance of a private email server on which classified information transited. “The FBI is Trumpland,” said one current agent.

Clinton is trailing Barack Obama’s performance in the 2012 election, according to early voting data that underlines fears of an “enthusiasm gap” for the Democratic candidate. Nearly a quarter of all expected ballots have already been cast after a surge in people wanting to express their preference before election day.

Melania Trump, whose husband has built a public profile partly around his vulgar and offensive Twitter account, called for a gentler and kinder America on Thursday, where children can spend time on social media without fear of harassment.In a rare public appearance, Trump portrayed her husband as a devoted family man with “deep love and respect” for all Americans with a speech intended to help soften his public image with women.

A conservative lobbying organization is pressuring Republican senators to stonewall any supreme court nominees put forward by Hillary Clinton if she is elected president, a move that would break with 150 years of tradition for the senate to hold up-or-down votes on any supreme court nominees. The Hill reports that Heritage Action, a conservative policy advocacy organization, urged at a morning briefing today for Republican senators to commit to leaving the supreme court without a ninth justice for as long as half a decade.

Trump duels Clinton and Sanders in North Carolina as polls draw close

Report: Beyoncé to campaign for Hillary Clinton

Citing an anonymous source, CBS News reports that Beyoncé will join husband Jay Z at a get-out-the-vote concert in Cleveland tomorrow in support of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

The concert will be the penultimate event in a series under the title Love Trumps Hate, and is aimed at boosting voter engagement for African American youth. This is not the first time the Clinton campaign has recruited entertainment industry powerhouses. At the conclusion of the Democratic national convention in July, Lady Gaga and Lenny Kravitz performed for Democratic delegates in a thank-you concert held in Camden, New Jersey.

A conservative lobbying organization is pressuring Republican senators to stonewall any supreme court nominees put forward by Hillary Clinton if she is elected president, a move that would break with 150 years of tradition for the senate to hold up-or-down votes on any supreme court nominees.

The Hill reports that Heritage Action, a conservative policy advocacy organization, urged at a morning briefing today for Republican senators to commit to leaving the supreme court without a ninth justice for as long as half a decade.

The supreme court has been functioning, semi-successfully, without a ninth justice since February, when conservative stalwart Antonin Scalia died unexpectedly. The senate has refused to consider President Barack Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland, declaring that the next president should be given the opportunity to shape the nation’s highest court.

“You’ve seen John McCain and others talk about the need to not confirm any liberal nominated to the Supreme Court,” said Dan Holler, Heritage Action’s vice president of communications and government relations. “That’s exactly the right position to have.”

Thirty-five years ago a new roommate moved into the attic bedroom. We were both single and trying to figure out our future. My parents called and asked what I thought of him. Long distance calls were expensive, so my answer was short and to the point. Thirty-five years later we are both married, fathers of three adult children and experienced in our chosen fields. My parents still call to ask questions about Tim. Voice plans now allow for unlimited talk, but my brief answer has never changed: “He’s the best person I have ever met.”

Hillary Clinton: 'I want you to hold me accountable'

Closing out her address in Raleigh, North Carolina, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said that “the best way to repudiate the bigotry and the bluster and the hatred and discrimination is to show up with the biggest turnout in history.”

“I believe America’s best days are still ahead of us if we do what we’re supposed to do,” Clinton concluded. “Every social movement, every economic advance, has only come about because people going to work and sacrifice and keep pushing forward in the affect of adversity.”

“It wasn’t easy to get the vote for women; it wasn’t easy to have the final efforts made to ensure that the Civil Rights Act was enforced; it wasn’t easy, because there are powerful interests still trying to push us back and push us down,” Clinton continued. “It is now our turn, our turn to stand up to people like your governor and your legislature who wanted to shut you down and push you back!”

“We are fundamentally a good nation - and we need to make sure we deliver on that promise,” Clinton urged the crowd. “You can make the difference - not only in who you elect, but in the agenda that those people then get to work. I want you to hold me accountable; I want you to be my partners.”

“Everything I’ve done started by listening to people - listening to hear your stories, what you’re worried about - and then working to bring people together to solve those issues,” Clinton said. “If you elect me next Tuesday, that is the kind of president I will be.”

“So, let me just mention a few of the ideas that we’ve been putting forward,” Clinton continued.

“This election’s been a lot more fun since we’ve been on the same side!” Hillary Clinton said of Bernie Sanders in North Carolina, after being introduced by the Vermont senator as the best hope for progressivism.

“As Bernie said earlier this year, when people who care about progressive causes stand together, we win - and then we can get to work on making those causes into reality,” Clinton continued. “I am so excited about the election, about everything that we’re going to do together - and I’m especially pleased to have Pharrell here!”

“Every time I see him - which is not often enough,” Clinton says, of the musician, “he is a passionate advocate for issues that are too often neglected and ignored.”

Hillary Clinton campaigns in Raleigh, North Carolina

Closing out his speech in Raleigh, North Carolina, Vermont senator and Democratic presidential also-ran Bernie Sanders told an ecstatic college-aged crowd that electing Hillary Clinton is a crucial step in protecting the hard-fought civil rights that his supporters value.

“We can disagree on many issues - but we have come too far, too many people have gone to jail, too many people have died in the struggle for civil rights. We are not going back to a bigoted society. And furthermore,” Sanders continued. “what we understand is our strength, our uniqueness, is our diversity. We should be proud of it!”

“There is one [difference] that is very, very profound,” Sanders said. “Secretary Clinton believes in science. And I know, I know I put her in a difficult position. In 2016, to believe in science is a little bit dangerous, but what the heck.

“The debate is over - climate change is real, climate change is caused by human activity, and climate change is already, today, causing devastating problems in this country and around the world.”

Trump, meanwhile, “has concluded that climate change is a hoax emanating from China. Now, why he chose China and not Mexico or some Muslim country, I don’t know, but that’s the way it is.”

“This is not a funny issue. I’ve got seven grandchildren,” Sanders continued. “Our job as custodians of this planet is to make sure that we leave our children and grandchildren a planet that is healthy and habitable. And that means that we have to have the guts to take on the fossil-fuel industry and tell them that their short-term profits are not more important than the future of our planet.”